Kindergarten Komments

"You are pinching my butt"

This statement marked the official start of my day. Two aides (or paraprofessionals as they are called in Michigan) were out sick today, which meant that I had to clear my morning schedule so I could be the aide for a kindergartner with high-functioning autism.

We were sitting on the floor for carpet time, my little (but heavy!) charge in my lap. He likes to sit in my lap, and he likes to have his shoulders pressed down because he has sensory issues (like many kids with autism). So we were sitting this way, and I started to really feel his weight. When I readjusted my criss-crossed position, I must have caught his little behind in the crease of my bent knee, because he looked up at me and said, slightly reproachfully: "You are pinching my butt".

Later that day, he was coloring a pattern of various shapes: green, yellow, red. He has fine motor issues, so he "let" me color the red ones when he got tired. Now, because this little guy has fine motor issues, he made great big strokes with his crayon, completely disregarding any lines whatsoever. He frequently ran into the other shapes even. I colored the red shapes pretty well for him, but after I had finished one near the end, he pointed at it and said:

"HEY! You colored outside the lines!!!"

I didn't have the heart to show him the mess he'd made of his shapes. That would have been, well... childish :)